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einmal

once

adverb INE-mal Common
Time Time Expressions

Also means

one time

Usage Note

einmal means 'once' or 'one time', but the shortened mal is a hugely common softener in requests: Komm mal her ('come here a sec'). The fairy-tale opener es war einmal means 'once upon a time', and nicht einmal means 'not even'.

Examples

"Ich war nur einmal dort."

Natural Translation

I was only there once.

Literal Translation

I was only once there.

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